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FDJ.fr sprinter Nacer Bouhanni bagged his second stage win at the Vuelta when he just managed to hold off Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) by a wheel in the bunch sprint in Albacete. Both riders finished well clear of Peter Sagan (Cannondale), who showed his form is coming as he nipped around points leader John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) to take third.

Speaking after his victory, Bouhanni confessed he had been close to abandoning after getting sunstroke on yesterday’s stage. But the Frenchman was always close to the front of the bunch as crosswinds produced some frantic racing over the concluding 25 kilometres.

With 10km left, the lead group contained 60-odd riders. When Tinkoff-Saxo, Omega Pharma-QuickStep and BMC ramped up the pace on the front, this group split in half, with Degenkolb and Giant’s GC leader Warren Barguil among those caught out. Second-placed Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Astana’s Fabio Aru and Garmin-Sharp’s Dan Martin were also in this second group.

The gap between these two groups went out to 15 seconds, but was closed down with 5km to go by Giant. Degenkolb committed himself to the chase in order to defend Barguil’s GC position, and this undoubtedly impacted on his chances in the sprint.

Giant were quickly back in their accustomed position on the front of the line as this group sped into Albacete. But that pursuit had cost them vital reserves. As they wilted, Omega Pharma led into the final 800-metre straight with the goal of setting up Tom Boonen. But the Belgian and everyone else was caught out when Bouhanni accelerated clear with 300 metres to the line.

The Frenchman opened up a gap of two bike lengths on Matthews, who closed right up on Bouhanni but ran out of room before the finish, where Bouhanni lurched to the left and towards the Australian. There was, however, no complaint from the Orica man.

“Everyone expected crosswinds today and that meant everyone wanted to be at the front,” said Bouhanni. “I stayed with Geoffroy Soupe in the final kilometres, but I was quite a way back down the line coming up the straight.

“I started my sprint from 300 metres out despite the headwind because I didn't want to get boxed in. Usually, that’s too far out for me but I had good legs today,” added Bouhanni, who revealed: “Yesterday I wasn’t far off abandoning because I had a bit of sunstroke.”

Despite all of the drama in the crosswind, the GC favourites all finished close behind the sprinters, with Alejandro Valverde still in the leader’s red jersey going into tomorrow’s summit finish at Valdelinares.

How it unfolded

After rolling out of Baeza, the break formed almost as soon as the race was deneutralised, Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) and Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) clipping away. The Italian and Spaniard opened a lead of 7-14 on the peloton after 30km, but there was to be no repeat of yesterday’s success for the escapees.

Their advantage was held at around seven minutes until FDJ.fr and Giant-Shimano moved to the front of the peloton and began to trim it back. Halfway into the stage, Favilli and Aramendia’s lead dropped below five minutes and it continued to dwindle rapidly.

With just two riders in the break, there was a bonus second on offer to the first rider from the peloton to cross the line at the two intermediate sprints. The first of these went to points leader Degenkolb.

The second produced an interesting little contest between Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo, who were each keeping close tabs on the other’s leader. After Alberto Contador had shaped to sprint, Sky were quick to respond. That left Contador’s “lead-out man” Sergio Paulinho as the unlikely winner of the bonus second.

This flurry of action was the prelude to the battle between the big teams when the wind began to gust heading towards Albacete. The bunch’s increase in pace approaching this dangerous zone spelled the end for Favilli and Aramendia’s hopes. They were swept up with 40km to go.

Soon after, Sky jumped to the front of the bunch, clearly determined to prevent Froome being caught out as the wind started to blow from the right. Echelons formed behind the lead group, where Belkin, Trek and Tinkoff added their weight to the pace-setting.

Initially, none of the GC favourites was caught out, but the acceleration produced by Classics specialists Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen cut the numbers up front to little more than a quarter of the field. That left the sprinters’ teams low on numbers and helped to set up the thrilling finale contested by all of the best sprinters in the race.